Every David Fincher Film: Ranked

I've been a fan of David Fincher for as long as I've been into film. He's my favorite director, and in fact some of my favorite movies and my favorite movie I can thank him for. I appreciate his style, and his technique more than most directors. For example, Fincher rarely uses handheld cameras, unless he needs the scene to be shaky. He prefers to have fixed cameras, and utilizes close ups to demonstrate strong emotion, but prefers wide angle shots to capture not just emotion, but also the context of the emotion. He was an early pioneer in CGI in movies, becoming the first Alien movie to feature CGI over practical effects (which we all know came to some very polarizing reviews), how ever it has to be acknowledged that he did create an impact big enough to get his name on projects after his audition film, for lack of a better term.

David Fincher was also able to categorize his own genre of film, or at least take it over. Dark, action thriller movies are labeled as "Fincherian," and people look for films that can "out Fincher David Fincher." There is no denying that he has had an impact on the film world that many other directors would strive to have. That doesn't mean each of his 12 directoral features are all 10/10, amazing movies. In this list, I rank each Fincher film off of my personal opinion, and give my explanation for why it ended up where it is. Without any further ado, let's dive in starting at 12.

12: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

From the start this might be a polarizing place for last. However, I did not enjoy this movie at all. It was the 5th Fincher film I watched, and I was immensely disappointed. It attempts to create a dark and brooding world, a world that the book creates or even a world that the 2009 version of this film creates, but it falls so far short and we get a gratuitous replica of a fantastic story, with empty characters with recognizable faces.

In this film, we follow a financial reporter (Daniel Craig) who was hired to investigate a murder which happened 40 years ago. We also have Lizabeth Salander, who is the girl with the tattoo, who is a hacker who is sexually assaulted by her state-appointed guardian to prevent herself from being arrested. This pretty much sets the pace for the rest of the movie, as it explores sexual violence and its effects on control and personality, including many characters who brag about their exploits and assaults.

It's a very dark movie that addresses very heavy topics, yet it doesn't do it as well as it should have. It took Sony 2 years to receive the rights for the book to be adapted, causing it to fall many stories while in development. Ultimately it doesn't have the same impact as his other films, and it's my least favorite out of all of them (yes, worse than even Alien3)

11: Alien3 (1992)

Alien3 is a bad movie.

But it's not as bad as people say it is.

I'm a long time fan of the entire Alien franchise. I own the collector's set of the 6 movies, and I'm planning on getting a collectors disc of Alien: Romulus as soon as I'm able. Alien3 only falls to the second worst in the entire franchise (canonically, so excluding any AvP movies), and second worst isn't too bad given how poorly received many of the movies are.

Since it's a known fact that this is a bad movie, I want to highlight what's good about it and why it deserves second worse in this list, rather than the worst.

For starters, I think it did a fine job keeping the spirit of the Alien universe. It's dark, its gross, and it's body horror. Also, it features a female lead, who is surrounded by over masculine men, and still comes out as the protagonist who knows what she is doing. It's exactly everything the whole franchise is. The prison colony is such a unique idea, and I think it's very well written. The brutality of the story is great too, with everything Ripely fighting for in the previous movie disappearing, being stripped away again by the Xenomorphs. The famous shower shot is so good, and honestly a great scene.

Why is it bad then? Just cause it has a good story doesn't mean it has good writing or, unfortunately, directing. It was Fincher's first full length movie, so of course it isn't going to be pure cinema. It's not good directing, and some scenes are so confusing to see what is meant to be happening, and the XenoDog CGI is so awful. Given different scenarios, this could be good but it just isn't good. It has amazing potential, though.

10: Gone Girl (2014)

Unlike Alien3, I'm going to state why this movie is bad, since everyone seems to deem it good.

In fact, many lists include Gone Girl in the top 3, which I find outrageous since this film just fell so short for me.

I will give credit where it is due, it is a beautifully shot movie, and it is stressful, and the twist is semi-good, but only semi. I found it to be 2 unlikeable characters which I couldn't choose who I hated more, and I wish they both would have lost somehow.

The story is so weak to me. Big shot writer boy and his mistress vs. glorified housewife and her distain for being rich and having everything handed to her? I know it's meant to be a portrait of how marriage from the outside doesn't reflect if it's truly perfect, but if you want a movie that does that I'd recommend American Beauty before I would ask anyone to watch this. Amy Dunne is just Tyler Durden for girls, and fans of both characters completely misinterpret what they are meant to be. We don't want to glorify these people, yet it's what this movie becomes.

Neil Patrick Harris is the best part of the movie, and he makes a compelling character. He isn't a whiny rich lady who hates how easy life is, or a millionaire with a beautiful wife that cheats on her with a model. The whole thing is just an insufferable watch in my opinion. Fincher was extremely skilled when he made this, so it is well directed granting it a number 10 spot rather than lower than Alien3.

9: Mank (2020)

This was a hard one for me. I believe this is where the transition starts from films I dislike to ones I do enjoy, and it is sad to see Mank this low, however I don't like it more than the ones ahead of this.

I believe there are 2 Fincher movies that are true passion Projects, and his two most recent movies are. This film has so much love in the making for how honestly sad the movie is. I know its a comedy/drama, but I feel the drama more than the comedy. The disintegrating personality of Mankiewicz is highlighted by an amazing performance from Gary Oldman. This film is a love letter to screenwriting, while also being a warning.

The cinematography is amazing, and this even starts from the beginning of its advertising, being marketed as a true 1940's movie. The film earned 10 Academy Award Nominations including best picture, and won best cinematography and production design. It truly was a great movie, but one I'd only watch once. It wasn't very Fincher, which is a good thing and it highlights his range, but it didn't have the impact on me that his other movies have had.

That doesn't mean it isn't a wonderful movie, but in the context of the rest of his, it's a bit pretentious and not as enjoyable as his others.

8: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

This is, in my opinion, Fincher's most unique film, and to the general viewer I would consider it his best. The 3rd and final movie that David Fincher did with Brad Pitt comes an interesting story about expectations and acceptance. Acceptance of the finite nature of life, and acceptance of who you are, without trying to be something you aren't.

The sad love story built into the movie becomes so emotional in retrospect, starting at the end of Benjamin's life, yet his face so young. Through flashbacks we see Benjamin forced into the role of an adult at a young age due to his condition, with him being mistaken for an adult.

Watching Benjamin struggle with this duality - the innocence of a boy vs. the maturity an adult must have is fantastic. The plot develops along side Ben's understanding of himself, and it's highlighted at a moment when he peers into the mirror with Daisy, with him saying "I wanna remember us just as we are now," showing that he knows the impermanence of life and what to look for.

It is such a beautiful story and movie. Definitely a tearjerker. The fact that a movie like this falls to number 8 shows the skill David Fincher has, that 7 of his movies I find more impactful than this.

7: Panic Room (2002)

What makes Panic Room so interesting is there aren't many films like it. I think it was the last of Fincher's movies to feature a plot that people couldn't expect. It's such a simple idea, yet it goes s far.

This is probably Fincher's most forgotten film, since it came after Se7en and Fight Club, which shook audiences in a way that people didn't expect. Panic room was far more laid back, with a more predictable ending than his other movies. Many people found the ending unsatisfying, which I could understand, but it shows the humanity in Burnham. From the beginning, we can see his has so much more heart than the other thieves, which we don't often see.

I can't say much without spoiling this movie, but I would 100% recommend giving it a watch.

6: The Killer (2023)

Wanna bit of movie with your Hedonistic Nihilism? Here you go.

I love you Michael Fassbender

This movie is so cold, and so Fincher. This movie bleeds with passion, and kept me fully invested and gripping the couch till the end, as slow as it was.

The repeated narration of his assassination method stuck with me so much. It was the best narration I'd seen in a movie in a very long time. Fincher get's us so engulfed in the Killer's method, and what he does. He's so perfect at his job, he can't mess up --

until he does.

The Killer's mistake sends his world into a spiral, including the woman he loves and his potential life. He goes on a quest to gain what he wants, and what he needs, swearing it kill the man who had his love hurt. The Killer's world is the most important to himself, which is where we see the Hedonism. However, each character he interacts with is also only out for themselves and what pleases them, having each character represent their own personal hedonism.

At the climax, we see the exact same thing, where the person behind it all didn't even know he was doing it. He was just a person who paid for a job with security to keep himself safe. He had no emotion associated with it. It's just a cold world, and we all live individually in it.

5: The Game (1997)

This was my second Fincher movie, and it showed me what David Fincher was capable of. If I asked you, which movie features a strange clown - looking character, who sends you on a messed up quest/game to help you better appreciate your own life and what you can afford to lose - what movie would you think?

Probably Saw (2004), but it's a stolen idea. The Game did it first. Our main character is Michael Keaton, playing Nicholas Van Orton, who is a loner banker who doesn't appreciate those around him or the life he has. He gets sent to this "game" for his birthday, and he slowly has his life torn apart at the seams.

Again, for this movie I can't say too much without spoiling it but it's definitely worth the watch.

4: Zodiac (2007)

I had a strange faze in my life where I was obsessed with the Zodiac Killer. I was so curious to how he was never caught, what his last cypher was, and what his motive was. Most of these questions were never answered, and that was the end of it. I learned as much as a high schooler could, since this did all happen almost 60 years ago. There's limited information that can be given.

Shockingly, I never watched the movie during this faze. I thought it would be so boring, since I knew they never caught him, and there wouldn't be any motivation to a movie where the main antagonist is never even unmasked. I even saw videos of "the most stressful scenes in cinema" and they always featured a certain scene from this movie. I would tell myself "It can't be that stressful, I already know they never caught him, so I know this "stressful scene" doesn't have any impact since it's not the killer. Boy was I wrong

This movie is not only an intense retelling of the Zodiac Killer, it's a compellation of first hand accounts. The scene depicted in the image above was assembled from interviews of the survivor, to make it as accurate as possible.

The fact that he was never caught makes the scenes that much more intense, and the way Fincher pieces them together they feel real, since, unfortunately, they are real.

After watching it I told myself there is no true story movie, no biopic, that could be better than this. Which leads us right into the 3rd best Fincher movie.

3: The Social Network (2010)

He's gone and done it again.

I never could have guessed a movie about Facebook would be this entertaining, but it is. This movie never slows down, and it actually has us sympathize with Zuckerberg for most of the movie. We do feel bad for this loner outcast, since he's our beloved protagonist.

Fincher makes us love the Zuck even though, in this movie, he's misogynistic, selfish, and all around rude. It slowly turns us against him the same way he turns against Edwardo to screw him out of his own company.

I've never wanted to punch Justin Timberlake so bad, which is saying something. He does such a great job too, being a scumbag and terrible person, and a glorified loser.

If Fincher can make Facebook an intense movie, he can do anything.

2: Se7en (1995)

This was his second film.

David Fincher: Alien3, then Se7en

No one could have guessed this turnaround would happen. Not even the producers. In fact, this movie was destine to fail. People thought it was a dumb story, and a weak idea. It's so outrageous that a movie about the seven deadly sins would go anywhere, especially one about a serial killer that murders based off of them. It seemed so far out and not grounded, that people thought it would fail.

Fincher went and turned it on it's head. From the opening credits, you know you're in for a ride. This movie is so brutal, too. It made my mom walk out of the theater when she watched it, she just couldn't handle it. It takes the thriller genre and makes a horror out of it, without relying on horror tropes.

From the fat man, with his guts puked out, all the way to the cries of pain, "What's in the BOX?!" the movie keeps you on edge - wanting to look away but unable to. Each sin we assume is the worst - "no kill can be worse than that," and then Fincher delivers. He highlights the evil human nature, and the inherent darkness in the world. The final quite lingers long after the screen goes dark .

"Ernest Hemmingway once said the world is a good place and worth fighting for. I agree with the second part."

1: F**** C*** (1999)

Yes, this is my favorite movie.

No, I am not an Incel.

Why is this movie so impactful? I have often found myself asking, but each time I come back to it, Fight Club remains as my favorite film. I came to the conclusion that I'd never seen a movie like it before, which made me love film in the first place. I also think most people hadn't seen a movie like this before either.

Other than Persona, no movie had had a twist like this one, making it hit harder than today's viewers. When this movie came out, people didn't think that was something you could do, just throw that on the audience? Out of nowhere?

But it isn't out of nowhere, and the entire film builds up to that point. The screen pans to Tyler during quotes that hint he isn't real. Tyler is a random face on the hotel "welcome" video. The flashes of Tyler. The fact that no one else ever interacts with Tyler when the Narrator is around. Every moment builds up to the big reveal.

But that isn't enough. Let's look at the message this movie sends. A man, down on his luck, depressed, finds ways to release masculine urges with other men, hurting only those who agree and no one else. Then, after that, how taking it too far is a detriment to ones self and the people around them.

The film highlights the importance of masculinity, while also highlighting the downside to over-masculinity. On top of that, the movie came out in a time where everyone felt like the "middle children of history", and unwell people latched onto this movie, forever cementing it as legendary.

Everyone knows the first rule of Fight Club, and everyone loves to break it. A movie with an impact like that has to be considered a director's greatest, which this movie is, truly, David Fincher's best.